These pictures are from the Clinch last night about 7 PM, shows the dam, the canoe access area right bleow the dam and the Weir. It could also be titled "Why Johnny Can't Fish!". There were actually a few people throwing spinners from the banks my guess it was cast, crank like h--l, retreive lure from Melton Hill! The last picture is the fenced off area right at the Weir dam which is closed due to an upgrade to the dam.

__________________"It starts with a raindrop, don't let it end with a teardrop!"

Growing up in Norris it used to be rare that they spilled water, now it seems like numerous times a year they spill. Maybe it's time for TVA to reassess their policies.

Great pics and thanks for sharing

You're right about that. I can only remember one time in High School that they spilled water. It was like a once in a lifetime experience, so we went down to the old shooting range access and watched it.

One thing that is different these days is the number of upscale boat docks on the lake that TVA seems to pander to when it comes to water levels. I don't know if they care about high water levels, except that maybe it gets into their parking lots & bottlenecks the tops of the boat ramps, but they sure do bitch & complain when the water gets low and they have to start shuttleing houseboats out to the main channel.

You're right about that. I can only remember one time in High School that they spilled water. It was like a once in a lifetime experience, so we went down to the old shooting range access and watched it.

One thing that is different these days is the number of upscale boat docks on the lake that TVA seems to pander to when it comes to water levels. I don't know if they care about high water levels, except that maybe it gets into their parking lots & bottlenecks the tops of the boat ramps, but they sure do bitch & complain when the water gets low and they have to start shuttleing houseboats out to the main channel.

That has nothing to do with it, once the lake tops 1020 it is moving into dangerous ground and is technically at flood stage. TVA set those parameters years ago and they will usually always cut it loose when the lake gets north of that mark.

They keep it higher in the winter now, and that may be a result of the boat docks etc, they have never explained and I personally believe this is why we see regular flooding events on the river.

As I said TVA needs to seriously rethink their approach to water management. Something has changed, and it has nothing to do with global warming/climate change as some might suggest. Last I checked the glaciers in the Clinch watershed disappeared a while back

Bigsur,
That is actually quite a bit lower compared to some of releases a while back. When they sluice; water comes out of the bottom vents and it is much more drastic. Here is a picture from February of this year when they were running 20,500 cfs. Thanks for sharing you great pictures and notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterwolf

That has nothing to do with it, once the lake tops 1020 it is moving into dangerous ground and is technically at flood stage. TVA set those parameters years ago and they will usually always cut it loose when the lake gets north of that mark.

They keep it higher in the winter now, and that may be a result of the boat docks etc, they have never explained and I personally believe this is why we see regular flooding events on the river.

As I said TVA needs to seriously rethink their approach to water management. Something has changed, and it has nothing to do with global warming/climate change as some might suggest. Last I checked the glaciers in the Clinch watershed disappeared a while back

Jim,
You are exactly right! Some of the money-rollers that have homes and developments on the lake leveraged some of their connections to have TVA maintain a higher winter pool so they did not have to move their docks so much or so their $100,000 docks did not warp if they were beached. It was actually a news event and I think there are some press releases on the internet if people wanted to search and read them. Seems like it was about 10 years ago when this change occured...

Also; all of the years of data and forecasting until this change should be disregarded for planning releases. I hope they are taking this in to consideration. When I look at the previous year's data and statistical graphs; the recent years seem very off from the parameters of historical information.

I do think the extra oxygen is good for the river and the higher flows are good to rejuvenate the river bed at times. But, extended flows of high water are bad for the vegetation and bugs that depend on the light the low water allows. Plus; we fly fishermen do not get to fish as often.